• Female victims were about 3 times as likely to be killed out of frustration, anger, despair (21%), and nearly 4 times as likely to be the victim of a homicide motivated by jealousy (12%) or sexual violence (4%).

• Women were almost three times more likely to suffer criminal harassment than men

• In 2004, an estimated 74% of adult females who had been violently victimized did not report the incident to the police.

Advocacy

• Walk4Justice began in Prince George to raise awareness and demand justice, closure, equality and accountability for the missing and murdered women and their families across Canada.

• Sex Professionals of Canada believes all forms of consensual adult sex work are legitimate and valid and provides a public voice that promotes the validity of sex workers’ occupation.

• Benjamin Perrin is a leading anti-trafficking activist in Canada and founder of The Future Group, an NGO dedicated to combating human trafficking and the child sex trade around the world.

• Maggie’s: The Toronto Sex Workers Action Project is an organization run for and by local sex workers. Its mission is to assist sex workers to live and work with safety and dignity.

• Stella (Montreal) has the goals of providing support and information to sex-workers so that they may live in safety and with dignity; to sensitize and educate the public about sex work and the realities faced by sex workers; to fight discrimination against sex workers; to promote the decriminalization of sex work.

• Stepping Stone (Nova Scotia) was founded in 1987 and is the only organization in the Maritimes that deals specifically with street life and sex work from a harm reduction model.

• Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work Educate & Resist membership is open to individuals of all genders who self-identify as former or current sex workers and to allies who share its vision.

• Swan is a culturally diverse group of women working to provide culturally appropriate and language-specific support, education, research, advocacy, and outreach for trafficked, migrant and immigrant sex trade workers.

Sources: United Nations Development Fund for Women, Statistics Canada; U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2011; U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2009; Sex Work Activists, Allies and You; Winnipeg Free Press, Compiled by J. Hainsworth